Performance · Other credits

Bo Diddley

also recorded as Ellas McDaniel, Ethel Smith

American singer, guitarist, songwriter and music producer

McComb, United States · 1928-12-30 – 2008-06-02

Bo Diddley is credited on 908 releases across 313 albums tracked on Gatefold, active 1955–2025 — the collector-built map of who actually made the music.

View as artist →

Start your shelf →Open in app

908

Credits

313

Albums

Decades active

978

In collections

Biography

source

American singer, guitarist, and artist.
Born: 30 December 1928 in McComb, Mississippi, USA.
Died: 2 June 2008 in Archer, Florida, USA (aged 79).
Diddley was an influential singer & guitarist who recorded his best known material for the Checker and Chess labels. He scored his first hit with the double sided single "Bo Diddley / I'm A Man" (1955), and a string of R&B hits followed through the 1950s & early 1960s, most notably "Diddley Daddy" (1955), "Mona (opens in a new tab)" (1957), "Say Man (opens in a new tab)" (1959), and "Road Runner / My Story" (1960).
His trademark rhythm, the "Bo Diddley Beat (opens in a new tab)", was an acknowledged influence on many artists including: Buddy Holly, The Rolling Stones, Jim Morrison, The Yardbirds, and George Thorogood, among others.
He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1987 (Performer).
Diddley married four times.
"Love Is Strange" hit by Mickey & Sylvia was written by Bo Diddley under the name of his second wife Ethel Smith.
From 1960 to 1980 he was married to Kay McDaniel (née Kay Reynolds) despite taboos against interracial marriage.